Report: Dolphins, Brian Hartline agree to five-year, $30M contract

By Will Brinson | NFL Writer

March 8, 2013 12:09 AM ET

Before the Dolphins can (potentially) dive into the wideout free agent market and chase Mike Wallace with some serious cash, they probably want to take care of one of their own and lock down 2012 breakout wide receiver Brian Hartline. They've reportedly done just that late on Thursday night.

Hartline, according to Jeff Darlington of NFL.com, left the Dolphins facility after signing the contract.

"It feels great to know perseverance has paid off," Hartline told Darlington. "Now, it's about winning games. I feel like we're on right path. We're close."

The numbers are impressive (for Hartline), as Florio reports the receiver got a five-year deal worth $30.775 million, with $12.5 million guaranteed.

To put that into perspective, Hartline now has more than double the number of guaranteed millions of dollars (12.5) in his contract than he does career receiving touchdowns (6) and four times the number of millions as he does career hundred-yard games (3).

Please don't interpret this as an attempt to rip Hartline, who is a very talented possession receiver, and a player I like very much. But go back and look at his season in 2012; he had one monster game (a mammoth 253-yard game in Week 4 against the Cardinals) that accounted for 23.3 percent of his total yardage on the season.

And the money isn't crazy either; there are similar contracts out there for No. 2 wideouts. Locking down Hartline now could look like a steal if he continues to develop.

But much of the assessment of Hartline's deal is predicated on the fact that he'll be Miami's No. 2 and they'll simply go out and land a No. 1 wideout -- likely either Wallace or Greg Jennings -- on the free-agent market.

Good on Hartline for getting paid and good on the Dolphins for spending some of their cap space. With the free agents they've got departing, they certainly need to lock up some talent if they want to repeat their seven-win overachievement from 2012.